Well, the plans are laid, and the tickets booked, and the fingers are crossed.

But ya know, for all my love of Irish song and story, I am a Yank born and raised, and so the prospect of heading over to Eire is full of frissons of anticipatory delight and apprehension. Putting up the Shannon in a small cruising boat sounds like a grand thing to do, to my way of thinking, but I am also pondering a lot of unknowns--the intricacies of lock passages, understanding the broader accents, and hoping not to inadvertently step on any sensitive feelings about the past relationships with the English, for example. If I slip into singing an Orange song will I be excoriated? I suppose it can be complicated.

The present plan is to run north from Athlone up to Leitrim and then east along the Shannon-Erne waterway as far as schedule permits, allowing time for the return trip within the alloted days of hire. Then we'll be in Dublin for the rest of that lasst Saturday and all day Sunday, and fly back to North AMerica on Monday at the very end of August. I shall have my loveluy new (to me) Taylor guitar, and if any of you lovely 'Catters happen to be seen trotting along the banks of the Shannon, you will be welcomed aboard! :D There will be whiskey.

A